Are you ready for the next meteor shower? Remember the Perseids last August?

There should also be a few, bright, random meteors tonight thru the early hours of 11th. Fun for kids – get away from city lights if possible. And pray for no clouds.

The eleventh is a Monday. I will be away from city lights. This is great.

@Pete; Will you be in my neck of the woods? And remember that the best show will be from 4:00 AM to dawn. We have had serious thunderstorms almost nightly recently so do the sun dance.

I’ll be in Otsego county, specifically in Hartwick. I’ve been lucky with the weather so far. The rain usually holds off while I’m there, then waters my garden when I leave. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Pete—really pretty in Hartwick, as I remember. There is so much ground water here that the soil, which is largely clay, is springy and mushy.

I was ready… but the weather here wasn’t. It seems traditional for the clouds to roll in every year when the persids are due…. sob

@Shep: the peak is well after midnight tonight (Monday)- from 4:00 AM EST to dawn.

We too have had ferocious thunder, rail, hail, lightening and flooding on a daily basis. High puffy grey thunderheads now and the usual rumbling in the distance.

It is always a crap shoot. G

@gail. I am blessded to have my birthday on the 12th. It is a treat for me every year to watch the showers on my birthday. I live in eastern Washington by the Idaho border so lights aren’t hard to get away from. I grew up in Livingston Montana and miss the complete blackness you could walk to in minutes.

@Steveb: Many Happy Returns. We had the mother of all thunderstorms for 3 hours this afternoon with enough hail to make the decks look coated with snow. There is no longer any place for the ground water to go; huge puddles everyone.

Now at 7:00 PM the skies are still cloudy. It doesn’t look promising but I will set my alarm for 4:00 AM, being the perennial astronomical optimist. I wish you a lovely birthday and clear skies tonight. (I too live in a dark area. It is wonderful except for the time I fell off my porch at night and spent 6 days in hospital.)

PM PnL, who is a mod. and the keeper of the birthday database.

Too cloudy. :^(

Last August, I stayed up all night, listening to “Beyond Jazz” on the XM radio and watching the show.

Here, too. I got up 4:00AM and then went grumpily back to bed. Once Milo saw I was up, he was ready to start his day.

Cloudy for me too. I stayed up until 4:30 hoping it would clear up. It didn’t. I read Life of Pi instead, so the night wasn’t a total waste.

@Pete: In Hartwick?

Yep, Hartwick.

We had huge thunderstorms, lightening, flooding rain and enough hail to make decks look as tho they were covered in snow for a while on Monday afternoon.

(Life of Pi is a good substitute for meteors.)

What?????

Knot: You mean that I am not clear? Enlarge question, please.

Fantastic heavenly light show composed of interstellar wandering chips of extraterrestrial stone and metal / Fantasy adventure novel. Meteors trump, take the hand, game over. Time to cash the chips. Novel drags away, head down, pockets empty.

edit: ”...wandering interstellar…” makes more sense. but they still win, win, win

Knot: I thought you said.“Novel drugs away.”

After a blow of that magnitude, I wouldn’t be surprised if he took to drink.

We had a lot of rain on Monday afternoon, and some light rain at night, and a lot of clouds.

I did see three or four meteors last night (Tuesday night) before the fog took over, which was better than nothing. The fog was its own show later on.

And I have to agree with knot. Life of Pi was a good read, but not nearly as interesting as a “fantastic heavenly light show composed of wandering interstellar chips of extraterrestrial stone and metal.”

Overcast last night also. I just went out and saw the moonglow (almost full) behind some interesting cloud formations. Lovely light show but even Jupiter is hidden. I spotted one bright star, which I think is Arcturus, but without reference points, I am guessing.

Pete: you were lucky.